Everyone wants simple solutions to complex issues. Andrzej Sosnicki, Ph.D., PIC (Pig Improvement Company), technical director of applied meat science, admits that as much as he wants simple solutions, as a trained biologist, he knows intrinsically that they do not exist.
In lieu of a silver bullet approach to pork production, Sosnicki and his team at PIC have launched a new business resource for pork processors and producers to help tackle those complex issues and offer achievable targets for the industry, according to a company release.
In 1996, PIC (Pig Improvement Company) published the first PIC Pork Quality Blueprint, a document that outlines industry standards for pork quality. Today, 25 years later, the company is announcing the PIC Total Carcass Value Handbook.
“The new handbook covers the practical aspects of pork production and includes detailed information about total carcass value,” Sosnicki says. “Readers can learn how carcass value is quantified and how they impact value at their point in the supply chain.”
The handbook explains factors that contribute to pork lean and fat quality, including genetics; nutrition and diet formulation; pig handling on the farm, during transportation and at the processing facility; and stunning, carcass handling and chilling.
“The new handbook does not replace the PIC Blueprint,” Sosnicki says. “The handbook expands on the PIC Blueprint concepts and provides detailed information to help our customers and partners achieve success.”
The handbook was developed by PIC’s Applied Meat Science team, which has more than 70 years of combined experience gained from scientific in-house and collaborative research, as well as work auditing and analyzing pork processing facilities.
“For years, we have been privileged to work with many different companies globally. We have been exposed to different issues and different questions, trying to provide answers that fit that particular company’s operational objectives,” he says. “We realized over time that even though there are fantastic textbooks out there, there was no one publication available that was easy to get to, easy to get through to acquire the knowledge that would embrace the total carcass value systematic thinking.”
Pork producers, processors and other industry professionals can find information in the handbook that’s relevant to their specific role in the supply chain – from tools and best practices for measuring aspects of pork quality such as pH, color, tenderness and marbling, to explanations of which aspects of pork quality are influenced at the farm and which are influenced in processing, the company said.
The 112-page handbook is filled with 94 figures and tables and more than 100 literature citations.
“I think one of the biggest benefits is that we are not leaving too many open-ended recommendations. There’s a set of targets that we know are achievable upon certain circumstances,” Sosnicki says. “It’s more than directional – it’s a target, it’s achievable, it’s practical.”
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